If you are asking for suggestions around Mid Vancouver Island, almost everyone would tell you about this little town named Coombs. According to Wikipedia, the town of Coombs has a population of 1,300+ but they welcome thousands and thousands of visitors every year. So what’s there?

The biggest draw is definitely the Old Country Market, better known as the Goats on the Roof Market. Namely, there are living goats on the roof! We were lucky to see a few of them grazing and chilling on the roof.

Inside, it’s a giant grocery store/market. A lot of local and imported food products, as well as a deli/food counter. I have picked up some candied smoked salmon jerky there and they were very good. And best find at the market? Mr. found a Panama Hat that fits his gigantic head, and I scored a $5 Sun Hat!

Mr. and I with our new hats

While we were there, we had lunch at the Cuckoo Trattoria Italian Restaurant next door. It has a good selection of pasta and pizza dishes. (more…)

On the rare occasion that CC and I got to hang out we chose to check out CandyTown in Yaletown, and we decided to first grab a bite at Small Victory Bakery.

Food

While CC opted for a sandwich, my eyes were set on those fluffy croissants in the showcase. I didn’t simply go for a butter croissant, though; I wanted a Breakfast Croissant. Sadly they sold out of it, so I went for the Bacon & Cheese Croissant instead. It’s light, fluffy, buttery. Then, as I got to the middle, there’s melted cheddar cheese with some meaty bacon. Of course, for the meat lover in me, I wish there’s more bacon. But because the cheddar cheese was also salty, too much bacon would’ve shot the salt level through the roof. This was perfectly balanced, and seriously, I could’ve easily had another one of these.

Christmas is just around the corner, so obviously I had to order a seasonal item. Cue the Mont Blanc. (more…)

Arnold Bread recently launched four varieties of premium bread in British Columbia and Alberta. We were sent a couple loaves to try, and the possibilities with this product are endless!

With the No Small Potatoes Country Potato Bread, we made Toast with a delicious pistachio spread. We also made some PB& J and Grilled Cheese with it. There’s a hint of sweetness in the potato bread. While it’s good on its own, it also makes a good canvas for rich and bold flavours. I actually thought the bread reminded me of potato chips but Mr. said I was crazy!

As for the When It Grains, It Pours 12 Grain Bread, the texture of the bread is perfect for sandwiches. Not only did we make HLT Sandwiches (ham, lettuce, tomatoes) for picnic…

…we also made our own Oyster Po’ Boy Sandwich at home! The nutty flavours in the grain worked so well with meat and veggies.

Are you tempted to make your own creations with these delicious bread? We have partnered up with Arnold Bread to give away an awesome #Breadie Prize Pack valued at $100.

One day as I scrolled through my Facebook feed, I came across this tried and true Beer Batter Bread recipe on Epicurious. Mr. always bugs me about not baking enough, and that he misses my occasional baking (when are you going to bake me another pie?!). And since Mr. likes freshly baked bread, I decided to give it a try.

The recipe is very simple and doesn’t require yeast or proofing. It just needs a bottle of beer. But it doesn’t specify what kind. Perhaps back then, one would assume it’s asking for a bottle of domestics, like Bud, Coors or even Molson. Fast-forward to 2016 and we have so many craft beer options now! And thanks to Bryan, we have become a bit of a beer snob, so the lightest beer I could pull out from our stash was the Parallel 49 Jerkface 9000 North West Wheat Ale. Wheat ale for a bread recipe? Why not!

And with a heavy heart, I poured a bottle of the Jerkface 9000 into the bread batter. The colour of the batter remained quite pale, and in the oven it went (after drizzling the melted butter).

Result? As my first try, the recipe was easy to follow and it turned out great. (more…)

Last fall, I was invited to a fun dinner at Tasty Indian Bistro where I was picked up in downtown Vancouver by the Vancouver Trolley Company then taken to the North Delta restaurant. While the food was great, it’s always hard to evaluate a restaurant based on the food they serve at an event. So when we were looking for an Indian restaurant for lunch the other day, we went back to Tasty to give it another try.

Food

The Vegetable Pakora was very good. It was crispy outside, but light and pillowy inside. You could see and taste the pieces of vegetables in the batter. The tamarind sauce brought some sweetness to it, while the mint sauce added freshness to the fried dough. We like the size of the pakora, taking only two bites each.

I’m a fan of Saag dishes (in a spiced spinach cream sauce). Instead of paneer, this time we ordered Lamb Saag. The meat was tender, still with a bit of gamey taste, and it was really good. (more…)

I usually use Dine Out Vancouver as the opportunity to try restaurants that I’ve never been before. Even some of the institutions that have been around for a long time. One of which was Salmon House in West Vancouver. This year, they had a pretty appealing menu for DOV, and so Mr. and I invited Mama and Papa Lam to join us for dinner.

Food

The first appetizer was the Lobster Bisque. It was rich and creamy, and you can taste the lobster essence. Mr. found it borderline salty, but to me it’s normal for most lobster bisque. What made this better was the addition of candied salmon; it added some sweetness to the savouriness, as well as accentuated the seafood flavours in the bisque.

We ordered some House Made Bread to go with our appetizers. For $3, 4 dinner rolls may seem pricey. But fresh, warm, house-made bread is always good and worth more. This was even better because two were regular bread, and two were cheesy bread. They were served with smoked salmon butter, and the salmon flavour was very prominent. If we were not conscious of the fact that it’s butter, we could probably keep eating it.

In recent years, it has become our Christmas tradition to visit the Vancouver Christmas Market. This year, the Vancouver Christmas Market is celebrating its 5th anniversary and of course we wouldn’t want to miss it!

Vancouver Christmas Market was created to bring Vancouverites the experience of a German Christmas Market. For the last five years, it has offered a mix of food, drinks, Christmas gift ideas, and fun for friends and families.

Inside the Vancouver Christmas Market

Grab yourself a souvenir mug and a cup of hot apple cider for the kids, or mulled wine for the adults. The aroma and flavours of cloves, star anise and cinnamon have holidays written all over the mug — and it keeps you warm on a cold chilly day/night!

There is a good variety of food vendors this year. How about stick-style pastries or chocolate fountain?

Waffle on a stick and hurricane potato were pretty popular too!

It was pretty cool to watch them make fresh Turkish pastries on-site!

To this day, one of our favourite spots for food here is still Black Forest Delicatessen. (more…)